Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-03-05
A LEGAL OPINION.

In another part of this issue there Is
printed the opinion of the General So
licitor of the Southern Pacific Company,
upon the effect and tendency of the inter-
state commerce law. The acknowledged
high legal attainments of Colonel Raymond,
his clearness in reasoning, and the special
study he has made of the subject of laws
affecting the transportation question, viii
command for his opinion the widest read
ing, and invite the closest scrutiny. The
misapprehension should not obtain be-
cause a legal adviser is retained by a
party intimately related to the questions
passed upon by the counsel, that his opin-
ions there 4 are of necessity defensive Of
the client. The true counsel in examining
a law for hi client and interpreting its
provisions fol his guidance, divests him
self, in fact, of 1 relation of an advocate
to client and as INES judicial attitude,
a severe one, indet !, that his client may
not by reliance upon his judgment be led
to his injury Whoever reads the opinion
to which we refer, will be impressed by
the Judicial calm that pervades it, and its
perfectly impartial treatment of the sub
ject in hand. There is no specious reason
ing in it, no technical pleas or avoidance,
but perfectly frank and dispassionate ex-
animation of the new law in the light
of the Constitution, the decisions of the
Courts and the policy of the Government
1t is not our purpose to recapitulate the
argument or distract from the reading at
tention the opinion should have, by synop-
teal reviews Any attempt of that kind
would be as unsatisfactory as unjust. But
we may, without injustice to the docu-
ment, indicate in this place the chief con-
illusions reached. 1t is the opinion Of the
solicitor that the short and long haul
clause that has been SO much debated, if
construed without prejudice and in the
light of the history of transportation, legis-
lation, Court decisions and the Constitu-
ton does not inhibit the charge by railroad
companies of greater sum for short than
for a long haul in the same direction, so
long as the charge for the short haul is
lust and reasonable. That is to say, the
Justice and reasonableness of the charge for
short haul is not affected by the fact
that the carrier, under the imperative and
unyielding demands of commercial compe-
tition, carries for longer distance, for
compensation less than that which justice
and reasonableness would warrant him in
making. That it is not undue preference
or discrimination against places to carry
short of the long haul, but within it, for
instance products out of a section to sea-
coast for cost, or even less than cost of car
rage, rather than lose the transportation
entirely or put an embargo on the move
ment OF the product. He points out that
commerce makes no invidious distinctions,
and that those places and persons which,
by natural situation, do not come within
the operation of its laws should not be
heard to complain that transportation adj
vantages are not given them equal to those
that competition and natural commercial
situation give to others, so long as the
charge made to them for transportation
service is just and reasonable. For the
methods of reasoning employed that lead
| him up to this conclusion, and the law
which fortifes it, the opinion should read
carefully and in detail. 1t viii be found
so simple lucid, concisely stated, and SO
free from wordy ENHANCEMENT and legal
phraseology, that the reading is at once
instructive and entertaining, and within
the capacity of any layman competent to
understand plain English and unambiguous
sentences.
The latter part Of the opinion is devoted
to brief and pointed consideration Of the
political drift and tendency Of this class
of legislation. 1t is clearly stated to be
| the opinion of the solicitor that the steady
movement of the county is toward a more
centralized and stronger form Of Govern.
ment; that the implied warrant Of pow
ers to the Federal Government is being
more and more literally interpreted, and
the doctrine of the reservation Of all right:
and powers in the States not expressly
conferred upon the Federal Government
| BY the Constitution, more and more mar.
rowed and retired. Under the Law in